Various Lies

Monday, June 11, 2012

I'm shutting down the blog with this farewell post. I'll lock everything one day, but for now, a thank you to the Reader that stuck around for the random posts.

I feel guilty, for some reason, for not blogging anymore. I've been Tideliar online since 2004; this is the second blogspace I've had here. I've written as an unemployed junior scientist, hateful and frightened of the future and the system I bought into. I've written as a wannabe junior PI and the collapse of that dream, and I've written about the start of a new career (and even the birth of my son). But really, I don't write anymore, and the bizarre nagging guilt has got too much. Hard to explain.

I have a lot I want to write about, and a lot I feel I should write about. Not just the stories I want to tell and the ideas I have, but the career shit and the feeling that I have a lot I could offer as a (gasp!) daddy blogger to mid-level, confused as fuck, career scientists like myself. But most of all the stories.

For whatever reason, and admittedly sleep deprivation might be part of this, I have no energy and no impetus (aside from guilt) to write. And then I feel guilty, as a former writer, for not writing.

Thank you to the many who once read, who won't see this, and thanks to the Amazing Few who do now. Tideliar the Blogger is gone. I'm still on Twitter, and some more relevant, non-storylike posts might start back up at Scientopia. But for now, for this blog and this incarnation,

You are absolved of all guilt. Put it to rest, come visit over on http://occamstypewriter/irregulars, if you really miss blogging. Meanwhile, your priorities have evolved. That's time for you! I've very much enjoyed reading your thoughts over the years and am confident you will not disappear from the Internet, somehow.

Juggling everything takes a lot out of anyone and blogging is a luxury. If it's causing you guilt, then shut it down for a while. The magic of the internet is that you can always make a grand return when you feel like it.

You have been one of those people that has made this digital world a true community. I will miss your musings here, but you won't be rid of me so easily - I know where you live on Twitter ;) Cheers. And enjoy the wonderful new crazy life you have!

I am sad to see you go, but I would like to ask a few questions: Why 'Close it down'? Why not take a hiatus, catch your breath, and come back at leisure? I don't want to miss reading your musings, however few and far between.

Taking your writing talent out of the world due to guilt is just straight up bollocks. You know this, I know this, and the world knows this. You got me into the blogosphere and what little talent I possess has been enriched by your encouragement and your challenging me to be a better writer.

GR - Thank you for encouragement. Tideliar is no longer a force for good in the blogosphere. He exists on Twitter alone now I fear. This has not been easy. However, his other alter-ego is preparing to write at The Other Place.

About Me

I am scientist by training, inclination and temperament. However, this is a blog, not a lab. The title reflects my passion for hyperbole, so don't take me too seriously. I don't. I am PhD trained scientific jack-of-all-trades. I write about science that catches my eye, making the transition away from the lab bench, and the slightly odd and moist boundary where science culture meets the public. I am an Englishman by birth, an American by temperament and if I were you I wouldn't lend me money.